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Published: March 11th 2012
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Hello from New Zealand,
We continue to be fascinated by the variety of landscapes we experience as we head from the South Island's (SI) northern tip south along to the west coast of the South Island - from the expansive sand dunes that constitute Farewell Spit (the SI's most northerly section), to the high altitude pasture land where we saw sheep grazing, to the forests up to the treeline, and the changes as you move down to the coastal regions.
In this country if you want to see the various corners, it involves some backtracking due to the limited number of highways that cross the moutainous terrain. We are now just beginning our trip along the South Island's west coast.
Here are a few highlights of our trip since we last blogged:
- Farewell Spit: 35 km of sand dunes, many interesting shore birds (some of whom breed in the Canadian Artic - e.g. godwits), fur seals, and even some fossils;
- a four hour tramp into the interior of Abel Tasman National Park where we were treated to alpine meadows and a chorus of warblers who serenaded us back to our campervan;
- spent
3 days in Nelson Lakes National Park where we saw our first snow on the mountain peaks and completed a 5 hour tramp up Mount Robert - many sections of the track were narrow switch-backs perched on the edge of the mountain - a harrowing experience for Dick who doesn't like heights - we thought the section called Pinchgut track should be renamed to Pinchbutt track because ....., but the views from up on high were incredible - of the St. Arnaud mountain range and of Lake Rotoiti below;
- we have become aware of the interconnected relationship between gold mining and forestry from the mid 1800's to the mid 1900's with resulting from the need for timber to support gold mining - we have visited two sites related to gold mining and even had a chance to pan for gold;
- Pancake Rocks - an interesting rock formation which juts out into the Tasman Sea - even the experts cannot explain how the layers of 'pancakes' were formed - with high tide and stong southwesterly winds the sea is forced up through blow holes - for us calm seas limited the action, but beautiful and powerful just
the same;
- Wild Food Festival - an annual town of Hokitika community fundraiser - lots of varied food including bugs, grubs, lamb testicles - no hamburgers but the popular walking around food was a lamb shank. Many folks dress in wild outfits and start drinking at 10.00 AM when the gates open. We did enjoy some good sea food and Pauline had some 'vegan gonads'
-we have met many interesting people but the most amazing was the 75 year old German woman who was hitchiking around the country - when we asked about her safety she said,"who is going to bother an old woman" - lots of Hutzpa!!
Overall the weather has been colder and wetter than normal, with nights - so damn cold we went out and bought long johns - so many people were doing the same thing that the selection was limited - as you will see from one of the photos. However, we have had a few days of sparking, warm sun and Pauline took the opportunity to play in the waves of the Pacific Ocean.
Our nextblog will include our encounter with the glaciers!
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Brian Low
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Bringing back memories
Great pics and adventures. I have run the 25 km "root and rock" run around Lake Rotoiti 2x...crazy! Cold nights...last time down I had snow on my tent at Fox glacier....not even the long johns helped :-) If you find the book Denniston Rose by Jenny Pattrick, a great read about the early gold rush. There's a series of 3 books. Lots of glow worms around the caves and mines....enjoy a walk at night!